Mentalist Episode Tag: Crimson Hat, 4x24
by Donnamour1969
Summary: Brief flashback and Jane/Lisbon conversation post finale. HEAVY SPOILERS! Don't read unless you've watched it, trust me. Friendship/Hint of Jisbon. Rated T for adult situation.


A/N: Okay, so the finale was amazing! Had me guessing until that smile when he kicked Loralei out of his room. I'm seldom right about stuff on the show, but I'm sure glad my theory proved true, that Jane's breakdown was a long con. Thank God.

Every scene was great, from Jane being caught as a lying fake psychic, to that smile I mentioned. Then, the beautiful church scene! Then, of course, the hug and the "L" word. Be still my shipper heart! Especially when Lisbon called him on it later. Oh, he meant what he said all right. No one else was witness to it. What reason would he have had to say the words if he didn't mean them? Then, the hand holding at the end.

Great twists and turns, kept me on the edge of my seat. Thanks, Bruno, for the great show. No way my tag could do it justice.

**Episode Tag: Crimson Hat, 4x24**

_It's just sex, _Jane told himself, as he moved his body over Loralei's.

_Sex. A totally natural thing to do. I can do this. I'm a man. She's a woman._

She'd been watching him for weeks, waiting for the right moment to approach him, like a lion stalking a zebra. Patient. Careful. Deadly.

_Physically, I don't have to love her. Don't have to be emotionally attached to do this. I'm only using her to get to Red John. A means to an end. Part of the con. I'm not going to regret this. It will be worth it._

_Just sex._

_Just sex._

_Just sex._

He let her roll him onto his back, and his hands came up automatically to her waist to guide her movements.

_It doesn't matter that I've denied myself this kind of pleasure for nine years. Maybe this is what I was saving myself for. This is what was meant to happen. This is my reward for waiting. She'll take me to Red John and it will be worth it._

_Just sex._

_Just sex._

_Just sex._

He'd made those two words his mantra, helping to calm him through both the pleasure and the guilt at using a woman like this. At the guilt he felt for cheating on his wife, for cheapening his nine-year sacrifice. For lying to his friends. For the pain he'd caused…_her_.

_I'll lie here and think of England._

_Or Angela_

_Or… Lisbon…_

_Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

_**Days later…**_

_It was just sex, _said Lisbon to herself.

She had left Red John's minion heavily guarded in the interrogation room, handcuffs still on. Once Jane had left, she'd tried a few minutes more to get something out of Loralei, but it was too soon, and frankly, Lisbon was no longer into it. She left to allow Cho a crack at her, and to find herself some good, strong coffee. Or maybe a shot from the bottle she kept in her desk drawer.

_It was just sex. It had to be. A means to his ends._

She stood at the sink in the break room, her hands shaking as she refilled the coffee pot with tap water.

_Just sex. Part of his long con. _

From the way he'd looked at Loralei in the interrogation room, he'd had no qualms in using her. That's what was most shocking, she supposed. How far he would go.

_So what if he didn't tell me he'd slept with her? He kept me out of the loop for months. Why am I surprised that he'd do anything—any__**one**__ to get to Red John?_

_Because he said he loved me? _

_Ha._

"Lisbon," said Jane from behind her. "I should have told you."

"Yeah, well, you should have told me a lot of things." Her back remained turned as she pressed the power switch on the coffee maker.

"It was just sex," he said. His confirmation of what she'd thought herself should have been a comfort to her. It wasn't. She turned around to face him.

"Was it worth it?" she asked.

He might have said immediately that yes, it had been. They might not have gotten Red John, but they had Loralei. If anyone could get her to talk, it was Jane. But that kind of deprogramming could take weeks—months.

_Was it worth it? _He thought, not for the first time.

"I don't know," he said at last, meeting her eyes. "Jury's still out on that one."

"Good," she whispered, and she saw in his haunted eyes that it wasn't quite as easy for him as she'd feared. She was oddly comforted by that.

"I did what I had to do, Teresa," he told her, and for the second time that day, he took her hand in his.

"Did you?" she asked skeptically.

"I thought so…at the time." His slight grin was sheepish, and he looked away a moment.

"It was just sex," she said, and he cringed a little at her deceptively cavalier tone.

"Well, it just sounds so tawdry when _you_ say it," he said, trying to joke her out of her obvious disappointment in him.

"It was just sex?" she asked. She sounded hopeful now.

He nodded. "Just sex."

He squeezed her hand, then reluctantly let it go so he could make some tea. He felt her small hand lightly touch his sleeve.

"Don't ever do that to me again."

"What? Have sex with one of Red John's minions?"

"Go to hell," she snapped, then walked out of the break room without her coffee.

Jane smiled to himself.

_For that reaction alone, _he thought. _It was totally worth it._

A/N: Still a lot of questions here, like who is Red John's FBI mole? Could it be Darcy? And is Wainwright dead? He looked it, but nothing was stated categorically. And, more importantly, how the hell did Jane get from Las Vegas to Sacramento so quickly?

It's going to be a long summer. Hopefully, we can fill the time with some great fanfiction. Lots of fodder for it from this episode. Here's a free idea—if anyone wants to write a fic that covers that six months' missing time, I'd love to read it! Come on all you veterans and would-be writers—get to work!


End file.
